Author name: Jessie

Jessie Mihalik has a degree in Computer Science and a love of all things geeky. A software engineer by trade, Jessie now writes full time from her home in Texas. When she’s not writing, she can be found playing co-op video games with her husband, trying out new board games, or reading books pulled from her overflowing bookshelves.

Materials Girl: Part 2

This is the second half of the short story I wrote for the XPRIZE contest. Read the first half.

Samantha took the box from me and led me out of the building. I focused on her colorful dress and intentionally tried to block out everything else. She headed towards a waiting line of the same sleek vehicles I’d seen on the traffic camera.

Up close, the vehicles looked even more alien that they had in the video. The wheels were made out of a complex webbed matrix that had to have been 3D printed. They didn’t have any visible lug nuts, and there were no inflated rubber tires, just a solid strip of darker material around the circumference of each wheel.

As we approached, the vehicle’s single door slid open, like the door on the side of a minivan. Inside, three bucket seats faced forward and three faced backward. There was no steering wheel, nor any visible controls at all.

Samantha climbed in and sat in one of the seats facing backward. I sat across from her, my carry-on beside me. I clutched my purse like it was the life raft that would save me from this sea of strange. …

Materials Girl: Part 1

This is the first part of the short story I wrote for the XPRIZE contest.

Materials Girl

The little animated plane on the seat-back entertainment screen circled San Francisco three times before we were allowed to land. On the ground, my tiny window allowed me a glimpse of an impossibly white main terminal before the plane turned towards a squat building tucked away by itself.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the captain speaking,” said a calm, authoritative voice. “We ran into a little paperwork problem, but it’s all sorted out now. Sorry for the delay; we’ll get you out of here as quickly as possible.”

When the seatbelt sign went out, I pulled down my carry-on and followed the other passengers out of the plane. At the end of the jet bridge we were met with a double line of people holding placards with names on them.

“What’s going on?” the middle-aged woman in front of me asked the closest uniformed attendant. …

The New Ending is Finished!

Sorry for the radio silence lately. I’ve been cranking through the new ending of Polaris Rising. And I added a lot more words than I expected. With the previous ending, the book was about 97k. Now it’s up to 115k. I hope my editor really was serious about that flexible word count or I’ll have to cut it back down. I love the new ending, but it’s out to my beta readers to make sure I’m not crazy.

In more personal news, I signed up for a half marathon next February. It’s not my first, but it is the first since I lost weight, which means I’d like to set a new personal best. And that means I have to train. …

Approaching 100k

I’ve made it through the first-pass edits for all of Polaris Rising except for the final chapter. The word count currently sits at a little over 98k and I probably have at least another 5k to write. I hope you all like big books. :)

Luckily PR is a science fiction romance, which gives me a little flexibility with the word count. I’ve been given the go-ahead to cross 100k if I need to and it looks like I’m going to need to. It may get pared back down in second round edits, but for now it’s expanding. More Ada and Loch for everyone!

Originally when I wrote the book, I planned for it to be a series of multiple books focusing on Ada and Loch, so the ending was a little open. When my editor suggested we have a new couple each book, that ending had to change. …

Edits, Salt Lake City, and a Book Rec

I’m still deep in edits for Polaris Rising and will be for a while. I know I’m supposed to be all jaded and cynical and tired of looking at it, but I love this book to pieces and I can’t wait for you all to read it. Even reading and revising it for the umpteenth time hasn’t dimmed my enthusiasm.

In other writing news, I sent off my XPRIZE short story, Materials Girl. It clocked in at 3,967 words, just 33 words shy of the 4k limit. Concise I am not. I had a lot of fun writing it, but I’m realistic about my chances of actually winning—let’s politely call them “slim.” :)

Yesterday I spent the day buried in laundry so I will have clean clothes to pack for a business trip to Salt Lake City. I’ve never been, so if you have any recommendations of what to see or where to eat, I’d love to hear them. I won’t have a huge amount of time to sightsee, unfortunately, but I’m going to sneak in what I can.

And finally, today is the release day for Tessa Dare’s The Duchess Deal. First, a disclaimer: I haven’t read it yet. Amazon isn’t delivering my copy until tomorrow and I’m terribly sad about it.

I normally wouldn’t recommend a book I haven’t read, but I love Ms. Dare’s books and I was hooked from the first chapter she posted on her site. I’ve been waiting impatiently for the release date. RT also gave it 4.5 stars and made it a Top Pick. If you like historical romance, you at least owe it to yourself to check out a sample.